>> i thought you were. anyhow, this is what i learned. when mike is doing the full mitchell, he actually looks good. there you go. >> you were so close. then you have the white socks. >> i don't think so. >> we'll see you tomorrow. stick around for chuck. 36 hours until the denver debate. how many highs and lows will there be for the two candidates in their first big faceoff? will the president play it safe? will mitt romney deliver a moment that shifts the trajectory of the race? great expect tapgss. romney campaign co-share will be here to preview the debate. we'll also talk to debar wasser man shultz about what's at stake for the president.

is it the spirit of america? a feisty debate for elizabeth warren and scott brown. both struggled on basic answers on washington. scalia and lugar. good morning from littleton, colorado, just outside of denver in the all-important denver suburbs. the swingiest part of the state. it's tuesday, october 2nd, 2012. i'm chloyce talbott. mitt romney landed in colorado last night and scored the endorsement of the big guy. the legendary quarterback and now executive vice president of football operations john elway. it was the only scheduled talk. it was a stealth bomber in the background there. romney tried to tamp down expectations in the back. >> people want to know who is going to win? who is going to score the punches and who is going to make the biggest difference in the arguments they make?

in my view, it's not so much winning or losing or even the people themselves. it's about something bigger than that. these debates are an opportunity for each of us to describe the pathway forward for america that we would choose. >> playing off the enthusiastic crowd. romney had lines for the base. may even tested out a few zingers we might hear wednesday night. >> this is a home to focus on the family which is committed to preserving the foundation of america. we have to get the pipe laine from canada if i have to build it myself. >> it will kill america's entrepreneurship. >> that's the first time, by the way, romney talked about card check on the stump since the primaries. others call it the employee free choice act. it was a priority four years

ago. it never passed because a few democrats helped kill it. it's faded from the debate since 2009. that's why it was odd to hear it last night. the president took a break from a more low key debate schedule. he delivered pizzas to the local campaign office where he also called some volunteers and did a little joking about his own debate prep. >> basically they are putting me indoors all the time. it's a drag. they are making me do my homework. >> as romney and obama hunkered down, their surrogates are fan ing out across the country today. the first lady, ohio. that's where early voting begins today. biden is in north carolina. march koe rubio brackets the president's visit in vegas. paul ryan kicks off a bus tour of the buckeye state. >> i was teaching the kids the song on the way over here.

>> we screw that up. of course, he's in iowa. not ohio. in an interview, romney was pressed for specifics on his tax plan. after ryan said on fox news on sunday the math would take too long to explain. >> you could say everybody is going to get up to a $70,000 deduction and can use your charitable deduction or home mortgage deduction or others. and you can fill that bucket if you will, the $17,000 bucket that way and higher income people might have a lower number. or you could do it by the same method that boll simpson did it. but that's the sort of thing you do with congress. >> so that's the most detail we have heard romney talk about this idea of different buckets and a cap on deductions. but still it's been at nearly every stop in the the last two weeks. romney has had to explain the 47% remark.

don't be surprised if we hear a version of this answer when it comes up wednesday night. >> if you could go back to that fundraiser, would you have said it differently? >> it's not productive for someone to get into the detail of how a campaign is going to cop l together the people i need to win an election. i'm a president for 100% of the american people and that's the real% people care about. not 47 versus anyone else. i will be president for 100% of the feem. >> of course, 47% is something we're hearing a lot in tv ads. the president's campaign continues to pound the issue on the air waves. heading into tomorrow night's debate, the president and romney each have two vulnerabilities. whatever candidate exploits his opponents will end the night with the upper hand. for the president, he hasn't fully described what his second term is going to look like. proposals in tv ads and on the stump like a million new manufacturing jobs, 100,000 new

math and science teachers. feel mores a operational than an actual detailed plan. given the fact there's hunger for change, what change can the incumbent promise? the president has to come up with a good enough explanation of how reelecting him would break the partisan fever in washington. what does romney have to deal with? he hasn't differentiated from george bush's. and his plans lack specifics. in a one-on-one debate, candidates have a lot of control over how aggressive they are. both romney and the president are inexperienced in a one-on-one debate format. few details on the format. the president and romney will be at podiums, standing, not sitting, and there will be no basic time limits on their answers. it's not 90 seconds, buzzer, things like that. it's up to the discretion of the moderator, jim leierer. that's going to be up to him. but there's supposed to be a lot

of leeway here over how long the conversations go. the debate is on domestic policy. 90 minutes is supposed to be devoted to the economy specifically with governing and health care. but we'll see if the general nature of those areas allows libya to come up, which we know the romney folks want to do. debates are as much about style as substance and this is a reality show where obama and romney will meet in the first time in nearly five years before their biggest audience of the campaign. the first 2008 presidential debate between the president and john mccain got seven times the audience of the highest rated 2012 republican primary debate. think about that. seven times. past debates show romney and obama have to worry about cut away shots that are less than flattering. in the past both candidates have come across as irritable, patronizing or disengaged. this was chris christie's advice to the candidates yesterday.

>> what you do is go out and be yourself. and people either like it or don't. if they don't, they are going to vote for somebody else. not a tragedy. no one dies. >> finally speaking of debates, there was a barn burner last night in massachusetts where scott brown and democratic challenger elizabeth warren faced off in a debate. moderated by nbc's david gregory. it was tense from the outset. >> if you're going to comment on my record, i would at least have you refer to it -- excuse me. i'm not a student in your classroom. please let me respond, okay? >> that was an echo of a quip brown used in 2010 when he told martha kwaurkly i'm not in your courtroom, i'm not a defendant. i the two fought over whether elizabeth warren used her native american heritage to gain

employment advantage. >> i listed myself as native american. i was listed there. it's part of who i am. >> do you consider yourself a minority? >> i consider myself as having a native american background. that's what i said, that's what i am. >> is she a liar? is that your judgment? >> david, you'd have to ask her who she e actually is. at the pinnacle of her success at harvard, she changed back to being white. >> all night, brown did his best to help voters forget he has a party. he kept calling himself an independent thinker saying mitch mcconnell has a lot of work to do to earn his vote to become potentially majority leader if republicans get enough seats. even saying he'd support john kerry for secretary of state. but he did trip up when he was asked to name his model supreme court justice. >> let me see here. that's a great question. i think justice scalia is a very

good judge. justice kennedy is obviously very good. and justice roberts, justice -- >> warren couldn't hold in her laughter, but she had her own oops moment. >> can you name some republicans in the senate today that you are able to work with on big issues, substantiative issues the country faces? >> probably richard lugar would come to mind. >> he's not going to be there. who else can you name? >> that is a problem. >> by the way, on scalia, in a state like massachusetts, the conservative justice there not very popular with some of the base folks there. not only has the massachusetts senate race become one of the most competitive in the country, it's sparked fireworks outside the debate hall. kelli o'donnell is in

massachusetts. kelly, take me into the spin room. take me into the crowd. we saw what happened on air wp what happened behind the scenes? >> reporter: we were approaching here, we kept saying is this debate traffic, because it was jammed. that was clue number one. close to the arena, there were literally thousands of people who were outside here with signs for both warren and brown. there were a lot of loud voices. part of that, of course, is the union movement was certainly out in force for warren. the brown people knew that and so they brought their folks out. you don't see that at many debates. it was bigger than the crowds we typically see at a presidential debate. that gives you a sense of how much this matters. inside there were 5,000 people seated to watch it in person. david gregory had to make sure -- >> wait a minute. 5,000 people? in an audience? that's a stunning number.

>> and the concessions were open. they were able to buy beer and hot dogs. you can't even get a sense of that. we have been to a lot of these debates where it's either the candidates alone in a studio or a small group. this was huge. and people here really care about it. we were talking to a nice lady down the street. she watched and said she doesn't know who won. and that's part of what you get a sense here. both candidates had a chance to sort of connect and make their points and both stumbled. you heard how scott brown, who is a lawyer so asking about a supreme court justice is important, and senators confirm justice. he named almost everybody on the current court. you could hear the crowd react to scalia. so he kept coming up with names. and warren answered kegan who was at harvard with her. both candidates had trouble spots but both were able to make

their case. so it was something to watch, chuck. >> unbelievable. i keep joking, this is one of those epic senate races. w winner may run for president some day and loser will get a talk show. kelly o'donnell, for all the fireworks, it's like no other state when it comes to politics. new trouble for mitt romney in new hampshire. his next door neighborhood advantage is it really not all it's been cracked up to be? we'll talk to maybe the most interesting granite stater of them all, the former governor there who is practically guaranteed romney is going to carry the state. plus there he goes again, the romney campaign ties itself in knots to lower expectations. chris christie predicts romney will turn the race around. first a look at the schedules of president obama and mitt romney. nothing public. privately, it's at least one more mock debate. do you realize they have done

combined eight mock debates between them? no other two candidates have ever been this prepared. you're watching "the daily rundown", only on msnbc. till you finish your vegetables. [ clock ticking ] [ male announcer ] there's a better way... v8 v-fusion. vegetable nutrition they need, fruit taste they love. could've had a v8...

go before voters head to the polls, chris christie tried to put an end to the spin that says tomorrow night is no big deal. >> it's a huge night. we want to turn this around. if you want to turn it around, you have to perform on the biggest stage. and this is why the expectations game is crazy. those wo are the professionals who get paid to spin you guys,

that's not what my job is. it's a big night. >> if chris christie is known as the most blunt speaker in american politics, i would argue the second most blunt speaker is former new hampshire governor john sununu. i want to warn you a couple things, there's a little satellite delay. and i want to warn viewers so we don't step on each other too much. but governor, let me start with debate expectations. do you agree with chris christie it's silly, the games the campaigns are playing? >> i don't want to characterize it the way governor christie did. i'll characterize it this way. it's important for viewers to get a chance to do comparison shopping seeing the two candidates face to face and i do think it has significance. it gives them a chance to make a

choice. i'm a strong believer that debates are a very significant part of presidential campaigns. >> it's been interesting over the years. new england has a history of sort of verbal combat. we saw the massachusetts senate debate. new hampshire, folks in new england expect this kind of stuff. romney coming from massachusetts, do you expect this to be some heavy verbal combat between the two of them? >> i expect the tone to be a little bit less aggressive than people might be expecting, but i expect the content to be pointed and sharp and specific. and i think you can go into combat without having to raise the decibels too much. but i do think that the two candidates will be right on target with substance. >> want to talk to you about some of the polling we're seeing. national polls, it seems as if

the dip that romney experienced last week is gone. that's the good news for you guys. the bad news is, president obama's number hasn't moved. so the bounce that he got into the 49, 50% range has held where it's governor romney's number that is fluid. are you one of those that believe that 49, 50% is the winning range? so that your next job, you're in the race, then the next job is you have to figure out how to peel votes away. >> you look at this in the context of where we are. there's five-plus weeks. there's a lot that can happen in five weeks. there's three presidential debates. and there's probably two or three hundred million ads to be dumped on the public. things change in presidential campaigns quite actively in september and early october. it's now that you start looking

at serious numbers. the carter/reagan race didn't change until the last few weeks. there's a close parallel between this and carter/reagan. >> let me ask you about new hampshire's poll. i'm sure you didn't miss it. 15-point deficit for mitt romney. i'm guessing you'll argue with some parts. >> i'm not going to argue with it at all. do you really believe it's right? let me test your political wisdom. do you think it's possible for that to be right? you know it's a piece of garb e garbage? >> this is a good pollster, but you can argue that it's not 15%. do you believe mitt romney is behind in new hampshire? >> no, i believe it's head to head in new hampshire. and i've seen enough other polls

to tell you that is a piece of garbage. this race in new hampshire will be won by mitt romney by two to three points. i'm willing to say that publically and stick by it and i know that it that poll of 15 points is absolutely invalid. >> every sort of professional poll i have seen of campaigns, though, all seem to have barack obama ahead and the big issue in new hampshire has been the gender gap with moderate women who may be the republicans fiscally but uncomfortable on social issues. you have had to navigate that before. that's always an issue for new hampshire republicans. how does mitt romney navigate it? >> the big issue in new hampshire is always the economy and taxes. so, yeah, the obama campaign has been pumping tons of noneconomic ads up here, so to speak. the romney campaign in this next

five weeks brings the examination back to the economic issue, the job issue, the 8% unemployment, 23 million unemployed or underemployed. that's what mitt romney has to start doing in the debate and in the next five weeks. and i think the election is still going to be decided on jobs. >> all right. governor john sununu, former governor of new hampshire. nice to talk with you. >> thank you. next, we'll hear from the obama camp on this expectations game. what's at stake for the president? the dnc chairwoman will be here. plus a judge is set to rule on whether a voter i.d. law that could swing a state that hasn't been a swing state but maybe put it is back in if it's put into place. and ballots are now being cast in another key battleground state. up to 35 states voting now.

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the president and mitt romney have tried to direct the public to the other's flaws. debbi wasserman shultz is the dnc chairwoman. we have a little satellite

delay. i want to make sure we don't step on each other. let me fully give you this question. are the debate expectations, are we playing a silly game here? doesn't the president need to do well? doesn't governor romney need to do well? the idea that the other will do better, isn't this kind of silly? >> i can tell you, chuck, that i agree with governor sununu that this debate can't be about decibels. what it does have to be about, particularly for governor romney, is details. thus far, we have not seen any details. what we have heard during the news reports about governor romney's debate preparations is he seems to plan to treat the debate stage like a schoolyard playground in practicing zingers. but president obama plans to take the debates seriously. continue the conversation that he had with the american people during his convention speech and talk about the specifics about

moving our economy and our country forward. like his plan to increase manufacturing jobs by one million, like his plan to cut oil imports in half in ten years, and his plan to make sure we continue to fight for the middle class and working families. >> but all were promises he made in the first term. is it fair to say the president's second term promise is, i'm continuing everything in the first term? does he owe the american public who seems to have some yearning for some change, and we can have a debate about how much change they want but they want something to chapg. they want the tone in washington to change. what does president obama owe them credibly on what change he'll bring in a second term? >> well, we have already brought a considerable amount of change. president obama inherited the largest set of problems of any president since fdr. in the last six months of the bush administration, the economy lost 3.5 million jobs and was hemorrhaging 800,000 jobs when

he took office. and we have had 30 straight months of job growth in the private sector, more than 4.6 million jobs created. >> so no change? >> no. we have to continue more change. for example, president obama o proposed the american jobs act. the change we need is republicans to make sure that instead of caring about the one job they focused the laser on, they need to work with the president to help us make even more change. we have made the kind of progress -- we have made some progress, but we need to make more and that's going to require us working together. that's what president obama will talk about tomorrow night. mitt romney -- it's incumbent upon mitt romney to give us details. >> what about this issue of changing washington? it's something the president said is his biggest failure.

why should we believe the president's reelection breaks the fever? does he owe the public an explanation for how he will go about trying to depolarize washington? >> well, president obama has repeatedly demonstrated during his four years in office that he's reached across the aisle, tried to work with republicans. he's had some success, particularly when he's gone out on the road and taken his case to the american people. that's how we essentially shame the republicans in congress into extending the payroll tax cut, which would have taken $1,000 out of the paychecks of middle class americans. it's how we prevented the tuition loan interest rate from doubling. this is a combination of making sure that we have people on the other side of the aisle willing to sit down with the president and work together to solve our deficit issues to continue to get our economy turned around

and securing the american people's help to put pressure on the republican members of congress who seem only focused on one job, barack obama's. >> all right. debbi wasserman shultz, chairwoman of the democratic national committee. thanks for being on this morning. >> thanks, chuck. the monthly auto sales numbers come out today. since the markets are just opening, let's get right to the market rundown. becky quick is here. if you're in the stock world and you live on the mountain or western time zone, you have to set an early alarm clock. >> you're not kidding. forget about the people who watch for the pacific time. these are people who are vampires. they don't come out in the light of day. they are there all the time. and this morning, it looks like the market is going to open a little higher. the dow and s&p were up for the first day of the quarter and for the month of october yesterday. we're seeing gains continue. part of that is what we're hearing out of europe.

there are stories that spain may come and ask for a bailout sooner rather than later. that sounds more crazy, because they think the government needs help and the sooner they come to the european zone the better off that's going to be. so they think that's going to be moving things down the road. you also mentioned we'll be getting sales from auto makers today. already we have heard from chrysler. sales were up 11.5% for the month of september. that's the best september we have seen out of chrysler in five years. so maybe that protends good things for the rest of the auto makers today. i'll send it back over to you. >> imported from detroit, those sales figures. becky quick, thank you much. up next, is past is prologue, what can we expect tomorrow night? we'll take our deep dive into the debate styles of the president and mitt romney. look back down their memory lane of one-on-one debates.

"the daily rundown," we'll be back in 30 seconds. on our radar, ballots in the buckeye state a ruling on pennsylvania's voter i.d. law and mitt romney sides with illegal immigrant workers. few first, voters in ohio are casting those ballots today. they are able to vote by mail or in person without giving a specific reason. the first lady is in cincinnati and the the romney campaign will hold a bus tour there. 2008 about 30% of ohio's total

vote came in ahead of election day. expect that number to grow. in pennsylvania a ruling is expected on the voter i.d. law. if a judge decides the state has hasn't adequately assisted in getting the identification, he can block the law from being imposed. the judge could leave the law in effect but let voters cast a provisional ballot. jerry brown signed new legislation to let immigrants get driver's license. it covers immigrants who came to the u.s. before they were 16 and meet criteria to apply for a federal work permit program. speaking of those young folks, when asked about the same workers, mitt romney said he would honor their temporary visas and allow the workers to say in the u.s. if he becomes president. this of course, is that executive order that the president signed.

mitt romney had not said whether he was going to keep that order in place or rescind it. he says now, you can keep it in place. one border patrol agent has been killed in a shooting near the mexico/arizona border. we're following that story. we'll get you more updates as we get them. in today's deep dive, president obama and mitt romney will share a stage wednesday night in front of what's likely to be the the largest audience yet in this campaign and may be the best and last chance to change the trajectory of the race. they are both experienced debaters, to a point. the president survived 26 primary debates, three general election debates in 2008. his debate experience for federal office goes back to his only unsuccessful campaign, his 2000 democratic primary challenge to bobby rush. >> i don't think anybody should have a pass. i don't think congressman rush should have a pass. i don't think the mayor should have a pass. i don't get a pass for my state

senate seat. >> but the president hasn't debated in four years and his campaign claims he's rusty. romney's experience goes back to his first unsuccessful run for political office. that 1994 senate race against ted kennedy. but romney's just been through a 19-debate primary gauntlet. what do these debates tell us about which obama or romney will show up? romney's best performances is when he caps a tough defense with a good line. like these against gingrich. >> i spent 25 years in business. if i had a business executive saying they wanted to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, i'd say you're fired. did you check your own investments? you also have investments in fannie mae and freddie mac. >> and romney is at his worst when forced to respond to a rebuttal when he's interrupted

or when he feels rules have been violated. he saw it in the 2002 debates against shannon o'brien, in 1994 against kennedy and of course, in these primaries. >> mr. romney, the kennedys are not in public service to make money. we have paid too high a price in our commitment to the public service. >> senator kennedy, your question for mr. romney. >> mr. romney -- >> i'm sorry. was it my turn to respond. >> i was going to end it there. >> my suggestion about my comments in utah. let me complete it and you can ask me. >> do you have a problem with allowing someone to finish speaking and i suggest if you want to become president of the united states, you have to let both people speak. >> romney's worst moment was this one. it was a year ago with rick perry. >> rick, again, i'm speaking. i'm speaking. i'm speaking. you get 30 seconds. this is the way the rules work

here is i get 60 seconds and you get 30 seconds to respond. >> obama has done his best to test him on this. both men have been tripped up by looking patronizing to women. aggressive attacks made her less likely to romney and helped turn the race in his favor. the last week of their fight centered on whether romney had taken a sexist tone when accused of accepting an anti-abortion group's endorsement. >> i did not in any way acknowledge their endorsement. >> you accepted it. >> in what way did i accept it? >> ask your campaign spokesman. >> i don't have one here tonight. i'm here now. i do not take the position of a pro-life candidate. i'm in favor of preserving and protecting a woman's right to choose and your effort to try and create fear and deception

here is unbecoming. >> o'brien said romney would not have used that word to describe a man. romney responded i realized it's not a word frequently used but i was an english major and i use words that are not that common. the president showed his side in 2008 and it cost -- >> he's very likable. i agree with that. i don't think i'm that bad. >> you're likable enough, hilary. >> he has to keep his likability advantage intact by coming across as relatable. it's the potential for shoring gore-type scorn for your opponent that's the chief danger for obama. obama was tested on that in his senate race when he had to debate allen keys. obama was sighing and shaking his head. advisers were worried he

couldn't hide his feelings about coast and would come across as irritable. coast repeated an attack line that obama was a candidate jesus would never support. >> christ is over here, senator obama is over there. the two don't look the same. that means i'm thinking about the lord. and i challenge all the voters of this state who profess to believe in christ how can you vote from such a faith shake devoid? >> i don't need him lecturing me about christianity. that's why i have a pastor, that's why i have my bible. that's whoo i have my own prayer. and i don't think any of you are particularly interested in having him lecture you about your faith. you're interested in solving problems and jobs. i'm running to be united states senator. >> obama had tougher competition in 2008 and displayed weaknesses during the primaries, a tendency to ramble and sometimes distant.

there was a moment in south carolina when brian williams asked him how he would respond to a terrorist attack. >> senator obama, if god forbid a thousand times while we were gather here tonight two american cities had been hit by terrorists and further learned it had been the work of al qaeda, how would you change the u.s. military stance overseas as a result? >> the first we'd have to do is make sure we have an effective emergency response. something that this administration failed to do when he had a hurricane in new orleans. and i think we have to review how we operate in the event of not only a natural disaster, but also a terrorist attack. >> so he went emergency response, katrina, fema. he tried to redeem himself by adding that enemies of the u.s. have to be hunted down. the breakthrough came through the 14th primary face-off when

asking hillary clinton about eliot spitzer's plan to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. >> do you support his plan? >> tim, this is where everybody plays gotcha. it makes a lot of sense. what is the governor supposed to do? he's dealing with a serious problem. >> i was confused on senator clinton's answer. i can't tell whether she was for it or against it. parts of leadership is not just lo looking backwards and seeing what's popular or trying to gauge popular sentiment. it's about setting a direction for the country. >> the president is best what he's able to sharpen his responses and throw a punch. he was able to elevate himself in the debates with john mccain in moments like this one. >> in a short career, he does not understand our national security challenges. we don't have time for on the job training, my friend. >> senator mccain in the last debate and today again suggested i don't understand.

it's true. there are some things i don't understand. i don't understand how we ended up invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 while osama bin laden and al qaeda are setting up base camps and safe havens to train terrorists to attack us. that was senator mccain's judgment. >> one thing to keep in mind, barack obama has rarely had a debate when he's been trailing and mitt romney has rarely had a debate when he's been ahead. he's done a lot of debates in this position, had a needed debate to kick start his campaign. you can watch mitt romney and president obama face-off tomorrow here on msnbc. we'll be right back with our political panel. first, white house soup of the day, what are they eating? they should be eating stuff in veg vegas, but those at the white house have split pea. we'll be right back.

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tomorrow night will be the first time that president obama and mitt romney have shared the same stage since primary debates in manchester, new hampshire, in january of 2008. joining me now is ra mash panuru and mark murry. is chris christie right? this is make or break for mitt romney? >> i think he's got more at steak than obama. it's one of his last shots. >> jeanne cummings, as you're watching this back and forth, do you expect a confrontational debate or a polite exchange? >> based on what the reporting shows and the preparation of the

romney campaign, they are looking to bring the game to president obama. he has to do offense and defense, very tricky in the first debate, and i think he's well prepared. he may surprise some people. >> mark, i want you to talk to me about all of the national polls we have gotten in the last 24 hours. cnn, politico, abc post, they all have something in common. what are we seeing here that's good for obama and what are we seeing here that's good for romney? >> what's good for obama is he's hitting 50%, where you need to be. if obama wins, it's going to be with numbers like those. if i'm mitt romney, i'm liking the fact the race is tightening a little bit. the question is whether this is natural tightening or is mitt romney really making a move right now? >> you know, one thing i want to talk about with these two guys is, i get the sense they don't

like each other much and doesn't that come out in debates? we're seeing it in massachusetts. when candidates like each other, you can tell. when candidates don't like each other, it eventually comes through at a debate, does it not? >> inot? >> each has a petulant streak. each is easily annoyed and irritated by being second guested and being criticized. they are each going to have to keep that under some control. that's going to be part of the drama of tomorrow night is seeing who succeeds better at it. >> i'm going to take a quick break here. stick around. trivia time. we asked, which politician participated in the most general election debates? the answer, george w. bush. there were three presidential debates in 2000 and three in 2004. gives bush the record number of debate appearances at six. the elder president bush and bill clinton both did five general election debates.

an honorable mention for a nonpolitician goes to pbs's jim lehrer. this year will be his 11th appearance as a moderator of a presidential debate. barack obama, assuming we go through all three debates will tie bush for that record six. [ male announcer ] after years of celebrations, marie callender's gives you a way to make any day a special occasion. new mini cream pies for one. real whip cream and a cookie-crumb crust. marie callender's. it's time to savor.

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this is part every a new ad for american crossroads, the super pac, they are launching this tv ad in eight states, the biggest ad in the cycle. let's bring back our panel. mark, you look at this ad data, more than anybody, crossroads, what's interesting here is it seems to be the same message they've been hitting the

president on for months, not a response to what sort of bill clinton and barack obama were able to change the subject on. >> right. the subject matter is something we'll probably hear at the debate wednesday night regarding here's what president obama promised the stimulus would end up doing. president obama never specifically promised that. that came in a report right before president obama got in the presidency on january 20th, 2009. >> when all is said and done, well we say the super pacs played a major role or minor role in the presidential election? >> we may end up saying they played a relatively minor role. the president has enough money to fight back and get his message through. they can't drown him out. it could be a major role if we look at house and senate races. >> that's what we are going to be watching.

r >> over at bloomberg view today, i have got a column on why the legal battles over obama care are just getting started. >> i'm going to double down on that bloomberg plug. kate anderson brower does a good report today showing it's not 47% on the dole, it's actually 96%. we had a tough time figuring out who the 4% were. >> who is kate brower? why do i find that name familiar? the better half of my executive producer. mark murray, what you got? >> brand-new nbc/"wall street journal" poll coming out tonight at 6:30 on nbc. also online on nbc news.com. >> that's it. my shameless plug, tony romo, thanks for delivering a dud of a game for my fantasy team.

i was getting killed anyway. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." tomorrow, we'll have battleground numbers in the state of flova, florida, ohio and virginia. chris jansing is next. bye-bye. [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare? that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan,

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